Pressure loss characteristics of a circular pipe that inserted with thin copper wire with high porosity

When cooling high-temperature channels that are circular, or rectangular in shape by forced convection of gas, there are several methods for enhancement of heat transfer. Some examples include attaching radial or spiral fins on the heat transfer surface, processing the surface roughly, inserting twisted tape in the channel, among others. These methods increase the heat transfer coefficient, or area, by manufacturing changes to the heat transfer surface. The objective of this study is to clarify the performance of a heat transfer enhancement method that utilizes thin copper wire with high porosity in an experiment and numerical analysis. In this experiment, a circular tube was used to obtain a drop in pressure in the system to facilitate the flow of air through the circular tube. A diameter of the wire is 0.3, 0.5, and 0.7 mm. A porosity of the channel is changing from 0.994 to 0.999. The Reynolds number based on an equivalent diameter of the channel is changing from 900 to 15000. We have obtained an empirical formula for the loss coefficient. This paper describes the fluid flow characteristics of the circular tube that inserted with thin copper wire with high porosity. (author)